In Memoriam: Marilyn Sue Kerr, 1935-2016

Marilyn Kerr, who taught biology at Syracuse University for more than four decades, died last month at her home in the Nottingham Senior Living Center in Syracuse. She was 81 years old.

A native of Illinois, Dr. Kerr grew up in New Jersey. She was a graduate of Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where she majored in biology and minored in English. She went on to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in zoology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She was only the second woman to earn a doctorate in zoology at Duke.

After conducting postdoctoral research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, in 1970 she was named an assistant professor of biology at Syracuse University. At Syracuse, Dr. Kerr was the director of the Health Professions Advisory Program.

She retired in 2012.

Dr. Kerr in her laboratory at Syracuse University